A note on tradeoffs...

I want to be a good mom. I want to be a successful business owner, I want to help others, I want to have a clean house, spend time with friends and family, work on some side projects and hobbies, I want adequate sleep, I want to exercise regularly and prepare healthy meals... I want I want I want.

But most days I feel like there aren't enough hours to do what I want to do, and I find that putting off the hard stuff is so easy. I hate cleaning my house and organizing. So the dust and dishes stack up. And if my goal is to have a clean and organized house, then something has to take a back seat.

Bottom line is, change requires sacrifice.
Reaching a goal, building new habits, pursuing new opportunities - they all require letting go of the status quo. What you did before no longer works for you. This is the tradeoff. This is uncomfortable.

If I develop a daily habit of picking up my clothes off the floor and putting them in the hamper, chances are my bathroom floor will stay clean throughout the week. But that's a tradeoff of time for a less chaotic, more organized life. I will have to let go of the other thing I was spending time on besides cleaning up.

And you can't have it all.
Having it all is not the same thing as having balance. If you're trying to fit everything in all the time, you're not balanced. Balance is letting some things take a back seat, so what's important to you can shine.

Change nothing and nothing changes.
If you're trying to reach the finish line of a marathon by taking the subway instead of running the race, you'll eventually get caught (someone actually did this). The same is true for trying to reach a goal and have everything all the time.

Do the work. Make the changes that you know are holding you back. Stop trying the cheat codes and stop trying to have it all. You can't "be good" during the week only to binge drink and eat everything in sight on the weekend. This is not having it all, this is spinning your wheels.

Parts of your life will be compromised.
The pursuit of some things requires letting go of others. It's the tradeoff of social drinking (comfort) for socializing sober (discomfort), an hour of TV for an earlier bed time, time relaxing for time to shop/prep/cook a nutritious meal, brunch with pancakes followed by a less indulgent dinner. Hashtag tradeoffs.

So, what are you willing to let go of to reach your goal?
What's important to you? What's able to be changed? What level of discomfort can you tolerate in order to reach your goal? Oftentimes we're pursuing goals that are in direct conflict with our current lifestyle, and we continue to try to hold onto that lifestyle by trying to cheat our way to the goal. Eventually it doesn't work, and we find ourselves wondering why we aren't making progress.

It's because our old ways don't get different results.

If you need help with getting started with behavior change around exercise and nutrition, reach out to me. Or you can download my free Quickstart Guide here.

Talk soon,
Megan